Oilers sign Nikitin

The Oilers signed Nikita Nikitin to a two-year deal worth $4.5 million/year. The price tag is $2 million/year too high, but the Oilers must feel they aren’t in a cap crunch and felt it was worth it to sign him for way more money for only two years. The one positive is this will allow the Oilers to develop Martin Marincin, Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse slowly rather than rush their development.

What does this signing signify?

It means Craig MacTavish and the Oilers recognize they are a few years away from being a real contender. They will never admit that, but a two year deal gives them a lot of flexibility for the future and it allows them to improve in the short term. Nikitin is better than Anton Belov, Mark Fraser, Philip Larsen, Corey Potter and Denis Grebeshkov. I know that isn’t saying much, but in theory he shold improve their blueline and he should be motivated to what to play well enough so that in two years he can sign a new contract worth the same money. I think at the midway point of the season fans will be furious with this signing, however.

This has no bearing on Jeff Petry or Justin Schultz. Both of them are restricted free agents, and if they elected to file for arbitration they wouldn’t be able to use Nikitin’s contract as a comparable because he was an unrestricted free agent.

I don’t see why the Oilers need to sign Petry or Schultz for more than two years. At this point no one knows how good they will be, or conversely, if they’ve reached their peak. Of course the Oilers and players hope they will improve, but why overpay them now for a “best case scenario.”

I could see the Oilers signing both of them for just under $6 million/year combined. Petry made $1.8 million last year, while Schultz’s base salary was $925,000. Signing Petry for $2.8-$3 mill/season and Schultz for $2.4-$2.6 million/year would be reasonable and fair. There is a risk that Petry could walk as a free agent at the end of his two year deal, but for me it is worth it to give him a bridge deal and see how he continues to develop.

The Oilers need to start taking advantage of the negotiations when they have more leverage than the player.

After they sign Petry and Schultz they should still have around $14 million. They could spend that on a two UFA forwards and another defenceman.

I think we all agree that Nikitin got more money than he was worth, but that is the harsh reality of being a perennial losing organization. Players won’t flock here unless you overpay, and at least the Oilers didn’t sign him for three or four years at that price tag. I don’t expect him to fix the Oilers blueline, far from it, but he has more experience than Schultz, Marincin, Klefbom and Nurse combined, and that might be the best thing about the signing. It means they won’t rush more D-men.

Nikitin is a top-four D-man on an average to below average NHL team, and right now that is what the Oilers are. In two years, if the young defenders develop into the players the Oilers expect them to be then Nikitin likely takes a pay cut to play on the third pairing or doesn’t return.

He was playing behind James Wisniewski, Fedor Tyutin, Jack Johnson and Ryan Murray in Columbus. The Oilers blueline doesn’t boast the same talent level. Nikitin will be a top four here, and he will be an improvement. You can look at his numbers when he played top-four minutes in 2012 and 2013 and he was a decent defender.

Essentially the Oilers traded Nick Schultz, at the end of his $3.5 million deal, for a 5th round pick, and then gave that pick back to Columbus for two years of Nikitin at $4.5. Nikitin still has room to improve, while Schultz was on his last legs. This signing isn’t great, it is closer to bad, but at least it doesn’t limit the Oilers ability to make other moves long-term.

He also can play the point on the PP. He has a heavy shot and he shoots left, which is something the Oilers need.

166 Comments |

Overpayment, but short term it doesn’t hurt at all. Provides another 2 year of development for guys like Nurse and Klefbom? I’ll take it. Considering it’s free agency and Edmonton isn’t a desirable place for free agents, people should always expect overpayment.

bang on. more development time for Nurse and Klefbom, especially if they sign a right handed, tough vet d-man like for example Derek Morris. and we’ll likely have to overpay until the end of time for players who aren’t stars to play here #becauseEdmonton.

I’m all for bringing in actual NHL players because the number 1 thing this team needs is to improve. Overpayment? Sure but as the article points out, we should expect more overpayments to come if the Oil want to continue to sign free agents. The only antidote is to start winning.

I think it’s obvious overpay.. We all know that. But the other thing we all should know is no one really wants to play in Edmonton. No one lines up to play for a team that has missed the playoffs for 8 years and been part of controversy over its ineptitude at various levels. Overpaying is a sad necessity. Nikitin might be a 2nd pair at best, but I’m fine with that.

This team has holes in it. Big holes. If the choice is to overpay to fill holes or to sit and roll with 20m cap space and Marincin and Klefbom as top lefts, I’ll take the former.

For years the Oilers have lacked NHL calibre D men. Now MacT has gone out and got one for a reasonable term and a slight overpay and the knives are out.

This deal makes the Oilers D better than they were last year. That folks is a positive. MacT will be making other moves and acquisitions during the off season. If the rest are as solid as this move I will be very pleased. This is a logical first step. If we add an asset at the draft in the #3 slot and also acquire a UFA or two we will be looking at a much improved squad this fall.

These things are situational. Given the Oilers current circumstances Nikitin is worth more to us than he is to other clubs.

Will we always have to overpay?….Not if we build a contender. Hartnell went to Columbus because they somehow convinced him that they could contend.

Given a weak and dwindling UFA crop, our weakness on the back end, our need for a stop gap until the kids are ready, our cap space, the two year term, and Howsons knowledge of Nikitin…MacT has made a good preemptive move here.

Why are fans not more happy that the Oilers are now a better team? At only two years this deal does not handcuff the team in any kind of cap situation.

If the day comes when Stasny says,”well I wanted to ply for the Oilers and was only asking 5 mill to do so, but they didn’t have cap room left so I took Calgary’s offer instead,” then complain away. Till then, spend Katz’s money!

This is bad. I don’t care about ‘short-term’ or ‘stop-gap’ or ‘cap space’. He’s a 5/6 D getting $4.5M. He’s been trending downwards for 3 years and was even a healthy scratch for Nick Schultz on CBJ. NICK SCHULTZ!

=/- eh? How about minutes dropping to 17/game from over 22 mins? That’s with a big increase in SV% while he’s on and GF%, not on the PP anymore against the softest competition. And this is CBJ in the East. He’s gonna get eaten alive – Belov 2.0

TOI went down when a new coach was brought in. Could have been nothing more then a philosphy change. And as his best work came when he was getting more ice time and harder starts, Ill take these as positives and see how his season goes. Might come down to having a complimentary partner to have him takeoff again. Noone said he his the savior of our D corps, but if you cant appreciate NHL dmen for what we have been missing what can I say?

Honestly, I don’t see why we should care about overpaying a player to come here as long as he is a veteran who improves our team. It’s not like we are the ones paying him 4.5 Mil every year… And cap space isn’t an issue. So who cares!

I’ll admit I don’t know much about him as a player, but if he’s an actual NHL caliber D I’m happy. Sure it’s an overpay (from what everyone is saying), but it’s only 2 years and it means we can actually take time developing our draft picks.

Nikitin played behind Johnson, Tyutin, Wisniewski and Murray in Columbus.

The Oilers don’t have ONE D-man better than any of them. He will be in the top-four here and he’s played top-four minutes before and been decent. I don’t understand why anyone thinks he is a 3rd pairing defender in Edmonton. They aren’t great today. In two years they hope they are better and he is 3rd pair guy and that is why only two year deal.

I think what everyone is thinking is he is a 3rd pairing D man on a team expecting to make the playoffs. If MacT does not somehow acquire an actual 1st Pair D man(i know not easily done). Then all we are doing is stockpiling the team with 2nd and 3rd pairing D men. The main positive here is that it indicates they are expecting to allow their D prospects to develop longer on the farm/ in the minors.

Is not stockpiling depth at defense a good thing though, being one of the massive holes the Oilers have been looking to fill forever? Even if they are not 1/2 dmen, can we really expect to have D depth filled with 2/3 guys at this point? I would think that having a more experienced D Corps, even if they are 4/5/6 would make it easier to lure a top 1/2 guy. Knowing that they would at least have a little help and not have their numbers implode while they are here due to being surrounded by raw rookies.
What do you think, does this make it easier to lure someone better?

So, Nik gets 4.5M a year. He’s going to be in the top four D. What about Petry and Schultz? They are going to be in top four as well, If Nik is worth 4.5, then Petry and Schultz should now be in line for about 5 mil each, no?

What happened to the 2.5-3 mil that was being reported as fair compensation for Nik. Has Oil country found its new whipping boy ?

If Petry and Schultz demand more than 4 mil, boot their asses out the door. What have either of them done to deserve that money? They’re not first pairing guys (yet, anyway), even if they play first pairing minutes. Bridge contracts for both until we see what we have with them, please.

You can’t sign players unless you are a good team…..unless you are a good team you can’t sign players.

I think using cap space on short term deals is a good way to approach this problem. Maybe the Oil finish 15-20th this year and aren’t listed on players 10 teams they won’t be traded for or a UFA wants to sign here even!

That is as long as the pro scouts got this right and this is the guy you want to overpay

Of course an overpay matters.They still have to sign Petry and Shultz.You cannot think they don’t see Nitkanin numbers.There is also an internal salary structure on most teams.Hall Huge Ebs at 6 million is the Oilers.Finally every dollar you overpay is one less dollar you have for the second line center or top pairing defenceman.

The best GM’s save cap room money till late in the summer than pick up some bargain rate deals.What if another team runs into cap troubles themselves and a top player has to go?Don’t you want to have the available money to pick him up?I know I do.Having cap room during the season allows room for movement during the season and at the trade deadline.

Of course every dollar you spend and how you spend it matters.To suggest otherwise is naive.

Nikitin was going to get overpaid in this UFA market. At 2 years it’s worth the investment. In my opinion, Nikitin could have easily played top 4 in Columbus but they’re bringing Murray along & obviously a history with Davidson at St Louis that carried over to Columbus when JD got there. This is an excellent signing for the Oilers in my opinion. Nikitin will play 21 – 23 mins / game!